


Dear Phil.

by heyitsnxel



Series: 30 Trope Prompts. [3]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Fluff, Love Letters, M/M, that's about it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-04
Updated: 2018-06-04
Packaged: 2019-05-18 01:10:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14842713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heyitsnxel/pseuds/heyitsnxel
Summary: When you can't say you're feelings out loud, write them...and leave them anonymously on your neighbor's door.





	Dear Phil.

**Author's Note:**

> day 3: anonymous love letters/notes

Dear Phil,

Do you remember that Christmas party last year? You weren’t even moved into your flat a day before Miss Davies cornered you in the hall, waving that ugly green and red invitation in your face until you agreed to be there. You were so distracted by her, you didn’t even notice me standing in my doorway.   
  
Wanna know a secret? The only reason I went to that Christmas party was because I heard you agree to go. I had already thrown the invitation away. But the moment I heard you (reluctantly) say yes, I knew I had to be there.

The party was lame. Meeting you wasn’t.

xx

 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

 

Jingle Bells had been playing on a loop for what felt like hours as Phil huddled in the corner of the room. Socializing wasn’t his forte. He knew this was probably a good idea. He’d just moved in and this was a perfect chance to meet his neighbors. Yet here he was, standing in the corner, sipping a glass of eggnog and wearing the most ridiculous Christmas sweater he’d ever owned.

He was perfectly content with staying in that corner, hidden halfway behind some tinsel, until he walked in. The stranger was wearing an equally ridiculous Christmas sweater, the words “ho ho no” written across the front. His hair reminded Phil of chocolate, messy curls swept across his forehead.

They made eye contact and Phil knew he was screwed.

 

* * *

 

 

Dear Phil,

I saw my last letter wasn’t on your door anymore. I hope that means you picked it up and not George down the hall (that would be weird).

Honestly, I almost took it back a few times while it was still there. I was worried you’d find this creepy. Do you?  

I’m sorry I’m bad at this. I want to just walk up to your door, knock, and tell you how I feel and who I am. But I can’t. If I ever work up the nerve, we can get sushi. We can binge watch anime. You name it. I want to do it.

Xx

 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

 

_Name: Phil L._

_Career: Video Editing._

_Interests: Anime, Film, Sleeping_

Phil's fingers hesitated over the keyboard. Could he put sleeping as an interest? This was worse than filling out an online dating profile.

Nextdoor Neighbor was a building wide social media that reminded Phil a lot of Facebook. Everyone filled out a profile and, supposedly, it was meant to help people connect. Neighbors could report stolen items or weird sounds. They could post about an upcoming party they were throwing. Stuff like that.

 

Phil didn’t care. Dan was the one making him do this.

 

“Do I have to do this?”

 

Phil groaned, turning around on his chair to look at Dan. It had only been a month since the Christmas party where they met, but the two got along quite well. They’d gotten very close, very fast and Phil was undeniably glad.

 

Dan laughed, rolling his eyes.

 

“Just do it. It won’t kill you and besides, who are you supposed to call if some creepy guy is lurking around in the hallways and I’m not here?”

 

“You are the last person I would ever call in that situation. Honestly.”  

 

Dan huffed, faking offense to Phil’s statement.

 

“Well, I’ll just take my Haribo and leave…”

 

Phil’s head shot up so fast, eyes immediately locking onto the bag of candy Dan held in between his fingers.

 

“Fine, fine. I’d definitely call you. Just give me the sweets.”

 

* * *

 

Dear Phil,

Does that sound too formal? I think it does.   


I wasn’t sure what to write in this letter. I don’t even know if you care that you’re getting them. But, I was thinking about the time the lobby flooded when it rained. I had never seen a group of people so angry until you walked in. You took one look at the room and smiled before sloshing through the puddles like a kid on a rainy day. It’s silly but I think that’s the day I knew I loved you. 

Xx

 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

 

It was probably a bad idea to slosh around through the puddles on the lobby floor. The rain had been falling all day with no sign of letting up which meant buildings like Phil’s were screwed with water damage. But for some reason, amidst the angry murmurs, the puddles had looked appealing.

The bottom of his jeans were soaked along with his converse by the time he made eye contact with Dan across the room. A look of amusement was on his face, his lips curved into a half smile. Phil grinned sheepishly, shrugging.

It surprised him when Dan walked over, kicking a wave of water into him. His smile had turned evil as he raised an eyebrow at Phil.

 

“Oh, it’s on, Howell.”

 

Before he had a chance to do anything, Phil had grabbed him by the arm and drug him outside where they’d ran around in the rain like children.

They both had gotten sick. Playing in the rain apparently really does do that. But it was worth it.

 

* * *

 

Dear Phil,

(It sounded harsh just putting ‘Phil’, I need to work on my letter writing etiquette if I’m going to keep this up.)

I’m watching Buffy. I’m pretty sure anyone on this floor thinks of you whenever they hear the word Buffy now. It was all anyone heard coming from your flat that week you holed yourself away. You looked so sad that night when you came home.

And when you didn’t leave for the next two days?

I was worried. Knowing something is wrong with someone you care about but you can’t do anything is the worst feeling. I still don’t know what was wrong. I sat in my room, hearing the muffled sound of Buffy’s musical episode through the wall. I know you had the volume up so no one heard you crying. I did. If you were wondering why that take away order of purely desert showed up at your flat an hour later, that was me. You always said sweets could cheer anyone up.

Did it?

Xx

 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

 

This had been the longest week of Phil’s life. Everyone and everything seemed to be against him. The project he had worked on for months fell through, rendering the last 5 months of his work a complete waste of time. His rent was overdue, apartment a wreck, his brother had completely gone off on him for missing a family event that no one bothered to tell him about.

 

But the nail in the coffin was Josh; His best friend since childhood, someone he had always confided in. There were so many shared memories between the two of them, he’d thought Josh would be in his life no matter what.

Apparently not. All it took was one sentence for their life long friendship to end.

 

“I’m gay.”

 

The look on Josh’s face had morphed from shock to disgust. His brow furrowed and Phil knew what was going to happen before it even did. The slurs fell from Josh’s lips like he’d rehearsed for this moment, reciting Bible verse after Bible verse before standing up so quickly he knocked the chair over and leaving.

Phil had cried. He hadn’t even left the café when the tears started to stream down his face and they didn’t stop until their was an abrupt knocking on the door to his flat at 9 pm.

 

A delivery girl stood outside the door, food boxes in hand.

“I.. didn’t order anything?”

 

She shrugged, shoving the boxes in his hands anyway.

“It’s already paid for.”

 

She left before Phil could even argue, practically throwing the receipt at him as she walked away. He stared dumbly into the hallway, receipt clutched in his hand, before closing his door and taking them inside.

 

Whoever had ordered this knew him well. It was nothing of nutritional value. The first box contained a lot of cookies, each one looked different. The second was two slices of cake, one dripping with chocolate and the other topped with a stack of strawberries.

 

For the first time since that afternoon, Phil smiled.

 

(The receipt had fallen to the floor while he was opening the boxes. It wasn’t until the next morning that Phil picked it up and saw the name D. Howell next to the customer information.)

 

* * *

 

Dear Phil,

At the risk of sounding like a total stalker, I saw you bring a girl home last night.

I also heard her leave this morning.

It would be a lie if I said I wasn’t jealous. When I saw her hanging  off your arm, little black dress swinging with every step she took, I wanted to pull her away. I wanted to step in and take place. But, for very obvious reasons, I didn’t.

I'm going to take this moment to be sappy, because if she sticks around, I won't have any other time to be.

You deserve the world, don't settle for anything less. If she makes you happy, then that makes me happy. Just remember your worth. Make sure she showers you with all the love you deserve to have.

 

* * *

 

Phil frowned as he turned the letter over in his hands. The lack of the usual ‘xx’ at the end sent an unreasonable pang of disappointment through his head.

Ever since the desert letter, Phil had known it was Dan. And honestly? He was ecstatic. His crush on his neighbor had been growing for the past few months and Phil honestly had thought that he was making it obvious. The amount of nights where Dan had dozed off, head falling into Phil’s lap when they stayed up too late binge watching Game of Thrones, the amount of time Phil spent playing with his hair, the 3 AM phone calls where they talked about nothing but it felt like everything… They held hands around the flat sometimes, functioning in a comically domestic way. Phil had been so sure his feelings were obvious.

 

Maybe they were. Or maybe Dan had just thought Phil acted this way around everyone. He was a touchy guy once he got to know someone. He definitely was never one to turn down a hug.

 

 When he had gotten the first letter, he was unsure what to think. Dan had written in such a vague way, leaving hints but not quite enough for Phil to grasp on to, until he mentioned the deserts. He probably didn’t know his name was on the receipt. He definitely didn’t know that Phil knew.

 

And now, he had gotten the complete wrong idea. There was a girl who had come home with Phil, yes. But Louise was nothing more than a friend visiting from out of town who needed a place to stay. He hadn’t taken her on a date and she definitely hadn’t been a one night stand. They had just gotten dinner to catch up and she crashed on his couch.

He debated going across the hall and knocking on Dan’s door; admitting his feelings and explain the whole situation. But, he knew Dan wasn’t going to be home until later. He could just text him, but that seemed impersonal. His eyes landed on the stack of letters from Dan and he knew what he wanted to do.

 

* * *

 

Dear Dan,

I don’t know how you’re going to feel about being on the receiving end of a letter this time, but it felt right considering how things have gone so far.

Firstly, I want to say you’re really dense. I know that’s not the most romantic thing to put in a love letter (yes, that’s what this is), but I’m putting it anyway because it’s true. Has my flirting not been obvious? Is my game that bad?

 

_If I wasn’t writing in pen, I’d erase that last sentence. I don’t think anyone actually says that._

 

From the moment we met at Mrs. Davies horrid Christmas party, I’ve had feelings for you. You went on a rant about the capitalism of Christmas and with anyone else, I would have rolled my eyes. But with you, I rolled my eyes fondly. You get so passionate about things. Even if I think they’re stupid, I love that about you.

 

Secondly, the girl you saw with me last night was a friend. I know that sounds like a bad cop out line, but I promise it’s true. She spent most of the night annoyed with me because I wouldn’t shut up about you. I think I drunkenly rambled about your eyes for 30 minutes before she made me shut up.

 

Thirdly, thank you for ordering me takeaway. I feel like I should tell you that your name as on the receipt and that’s how I knew. You hoped it would make me feel better and it really did.

 

I guess the whole point of this was to tell you the feelings are mutual. I’ve loved you for just as long as you’ve loved me. We both were just too dumb to do anything about it. I hope when you get home and find this you come over. I’ll put on Netflix and we can Netflix and Phil (sorry, I’m ruining the moment).

But, seriously, whenever you read this... Call me, come over, anything. 

x Phil

 

(ps- I'm nervous leaving you ONE letter, how did you do this constantly?!)


End file.
